The Albanese Government is streamlining implementation of an open register of beneficial ownership.
The reforms will ensure, for the first time, that accurate and up‑to‑date information on a company’s real owners is available to the public.
Currently, under the Corporations Act 2001, companies must maintain registers of their members. However, beneficial owners – individuals who ultimately control, or benefit from, a company – are not always the legal owners of a company, and so may not be included in the company’s register of members.
The Government will now proceed directly to a public, Commonwealth‑operated register of beneficial ownership information for unlisted companies.
A Commonwealth‑operated register will better increase transparency and support stronger regulatory and law enforcement responses to tax and financial crime facilitated by complex legal structures and arrangements.
Stabilising the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC’s) companies register is a crucial step in aligning it to accept and make available beneficial ownership information in the future. The Government is continuing to build the capacity of the companies register, including through the additional funding for ASIC of $207 million over 2025–26 to 2026–27 announced in the 2025–26 Budget.
The Government will continue policy development work to establish a beneficial ownership register in step with ASIC’s work to stabilise the companies register.
The Government will engage with stakeholders to further progress detailed policy development work on the beneficial ownership register from early 2027, with public consultation expected thereafter. This timing will facilitate the integration of beneficial ownership information with the new ASIC companies register as it is being completed.
The work will include adapting policy specifications as outlined in the 2022 consultation paper and the December 2024 update, and the findings of a privacy impact assessment, to direct implementation of a public, Commonwealth‑operated register.
To ensure coherence with the register for unlisted companies, the Government will also continue work on developing a beneficial ownership regime in relation to trusts at the same time.
The changes announced today further respond to feedback the Government received in previous consultations. A centralised register is better for the purpose of law enforcement and civil society and this change will reduce the regulatory impact of a two‑staged approach.
The Government’s work on unlisted companies builds on our actions to improve the transparency of the true owners of listed companies. The Government recently introduced legislation into Parliament to enhance the disclosure of the ownership and control of entities listed on Australian financial markets, improving market transparency and enabling better informed decision‑making by investors and other stakeholders. That legislation has now passed the House of Representatives.
By developing an open register of corporate ownership, the Government will improve awareness of who ultimately owns, controls or receives profits from a company or legal vehicle operating in Australia.
No Australian Government has done more than the Albanese Government to improve corporate tax integrity and tax transparency.
This measure continues our reforms to improve transparency and ensure that companies are appropriately accountable to the public.